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Hellspin Fortress
Hellspin Fortress was a star fortress in the heptarchate. The site of an infamous massacre carried out by General Shuos Jedao, it is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, and Revenant Gun. Geography Hellspin Fortress was just outside the Glover Marches, relatively close to Candle Arc and the Outspecker Colonies.Hexarchate Map Description The Fortress was guarded by a gyre of corrosive dust and predatory masses. It was not expected to be a difficult fortress to capture. History During the Lanterner rebellion, the rebel leader escaped to Hellspin Fortress. Kel Command sent Jedao, then forty-five and having inflicted four decisive defeats on the Lanterners already, to Hellspin with a large warmoth swarm to capture the fortressNinefox Gambit, Chapter 3, 12 so that the Lanterners could be converted and the calendar repaired from the damage done by their heresy.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 Instead, Jedao sent his entire swarm into the corrosive gyre and activated the first threshold winnowers, destroying over one million people, including his Kel forces.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 As the winnowers whited out further communication attempts among the dying Kel,Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 15 Jedao used his Patterner 52 to shoot his staff,Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 and then proceeded through the command moth, shooting everyone he encountered.Revenant Gun, Chapter 11 He later remarked that he had not planned the shootings and criticized himself for nearly running out of bullets, remarking that a plan "that finicky" was a mistake.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 Kel histories indicated that he did not resist arrest and was found on his command moth arranging spent bullets into patterns,Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 but he related that they had used tranquilizing gas to subdue him.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 15 Casualties Over one million people died in the Hellspin massacre, with survivors numbering in the hundreds.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 Kel A habit of thorough inspections had allowed Jedao to plant bombs and logic grenadesNinefox Gambit, Chapter 22 and arrange ambushes, contradictory orders, and failures of weapons and computer systems throughout his swarm, ensuring their doom.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 High General Kel Shiang had a niece who died at Hellspin;Raven Stratagem, Chapter 20 on Jedao's command staff, Colonel Kel Gized, Kel Jiang, and Kel Gwe Pia were with him when the massacre began and fell to his Patterner 52.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 Very few Kel survived.needed Heretics The Lanterners and their allies included trusted officers, such as one woman from Maign City, and multiethnic recruits from the Outspecker Colonies and other areas who were placed in separate troops from others of their various beliefs and sent to die first. Soldiers and civilians alike, including adults, children, and wildlife, were destroyed by the threshold winnowers. Their slow, agonizing deaths were duly recorded by Kel historians, and made up the bulk of the million-plus victims.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 Legacy The Hellspin massacre caused a major calendrical disruption, comparable to those associated with calendrical resets.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25 The scouring operation performed on the site of the massacre after Jedao's extraction cost the heptarchate the price of entire systems and many more lives.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 After Jedao was executed and placed in the black cradle, his life and effects were combed by investigators and historians trying to figure out why he had "cracked." All attempts were unsuccessful. The Shuos created a policy of purging everyone in their faction who manifested Jedao's signifier, Ninefox Crowned with Eyes. Kel Command readily accepted formation instinct as a way to control their troops, and carried suspicion of their own best generals so far as to deny them important campaigns and vital information in order not to hand them an influential victory. The black fingerless gloves worn by seconded personnel were replaced with full gray gloves. needed Ninefox Gambit, Chapter The Hellspin massacre and its attendant calendrical disruption may have led the Liozh to investigate alternate forms of government, including the heretical democratic system for which they were purged.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 Trivia * Commander Kel Menowen was present during the massacre, but her fate is not detailed in the text.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21 * Vahenz afrir dai Noum, citing how many things went wrong for the Kel, opined correctly that Hellspin was a long-laid plan designed to put Jedao in the black cradle.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 * According to Jedao, all his anchors eventually studied the long list of Hellspin casualties.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12 References Category:Places Category:Heptarchate